A
unified Democratic caucus generated 57 "yes" votes -- three shy of the
60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster and allow the
legislation, known as the DISCLOSE Act, to advance to an up-or-down
vote. For procedural reasons, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) switched his vote from a "yes" to a "no" in order to bring the bill up again at a later date.

Sen. Joe Lieberman
(I-Conn.), who caucuses with the Democrats, missed the vote due to a
funeral in his home state, and no Republicans broke rank to join their
Democratic colleagues. Campaign finance reformers had been working to
win over moderate Republicans such as Sens. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

The battle over Citizens United
and the appropriate legislative response has raged for months. Many
business groups and GOP lawmakers hailed the decision as a victory for
free speech and say they don't want to see First Amendment rights
impeded by legislation such as the DISCLOSE Act. Many Democrats have
countered that steps must be taken to curb the influence of special
interests and that the public should at least have a right to know about
the interests fueling new advertisements.

The Democrats' plan
would impose new reporting requirements on independent political
advertisements and electioneering communications broadcast in the run up
to Election Day. Corporations, unions, trade associations, so-called
527 groups and 501(c)(4), (c)(5) and (c)(6) advocacy organizations that
produce such ads would be required to disclose more information about
their donors.

They would also be required to show the names of
the top donors in the advertisements, and the head of the organization
or the group's largest contributor would be required to "stand by the
ad" -- giving the same, familiar disclaimer that candidates must include
in their advertisements: "My name is so-and-so, and I approve this
message."

Additionally, the bill would prohibit companies with
outstanding loans from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program
(TARP), large government contractors and foreign-controlled companies
from producing independent expenditures.

Ahead of that vote, Democratic leaders struck a deal that would exempt the National Rifle Association
and a handful of other organizations from certain disclosure provisions
of the bill -- so long as the groups didn't primarily rely on corporate
money for any political advertisements. (This legislative maneuvering
irked many on the left, and earned the NRA staunch criticism from its
typical allies on the right.)

Thanks to an amendment pushed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich
(D-Ohio), the House version of the legislation also sought to prohibit
companies with government leases for Outer Continental Shelf offshore
drilling -- such as BP -- from making independent expenditures.

In advance of today's vote, the chief sponsor of the legislation in the Senate, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), removed Kucinich's amendment from the bill. Schumer also added a provision -- long-supported by the Center for Responsive Politics
-- to require senators and senate candidates to file their campaign
finance reports with the Federal Election Commission electronically,
instead of on paper, as they currently do.

President Barack Obama has championed the DISCLOSE Act and warned against the consequences of inaction.

"Corporate
lobbyists will be able to tell members of Congress if they don't vote
the right way, they will face an onslaught of negative ads in their next
campaign. And all too often, no one will actually know who's really
behind those ads," Obama said during an event in the Rose Garden of the
White House on Monday. "A group can hide behind a name like 'Citizens
for a Better Future,' even if a more accurate name would be 'Companies
for Weaker Oversight.'

"A vote to oppose these reforms is nothing
less than a vote to allow corporate and special interest takeovers of
our elections," Obama continued.

Democrats are hoping to
highlight Republican obstruction and opposition to the DISCLOSE Act
ahead of November's elections. And criticism of the GOP continued to
stream in after the failed cloture vote this afternoon.

"As
millions of Americans struggle in this economy, the rich and powerful
should not be able to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens; the
power should be put back into the hands of the voters," Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.) said in a statement. "Today, once again, Senate Republicans
put the special interests ahead of the interests of all Americans."

Such sentiments were echoed by Senate Democrats -- many of whom at railed against Citizens United during the recent confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, as OpenSecrets Blog previously reported.

"It
is very disappointing that a minority of senators decided to block the
Senate from even considering this bill to increase transparency and
disclosure in elections," Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), long a champion of campaign finance reforms, said in a statement.
"While the bill is not perfect, it was our best chance to provide
voters with adequate information about exactly who is behind the
onslaught of political ads they can expect to see this fall."

Yet Republicans believe they will be able to brandish their opposition to the DISCLOSE Act to win over voters in November.

On the Senate floor today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) decried the DISCLOSE Act as "117 pages of stealth negotiations
in which Democrats pick winners and losers, either through outright
prohibitions or restrictions so complex that they end up achieving the
same result" and as an example of Democratic "overreach."

"The
supporters of this bill say it's about transparency. To that, I say it's
transparent all right. It's a transparent effort to rig the fall
elections," said McConnell, a long-time opponent of campaign finance
regulations. "Their one goal here is to get people who would criticize
them to stop talking about what Democrats have been doing here in
Washington over the past year and a half."

McConnell's rhetoric has been mirrored by House Republicans, too.

"This
was a blatant attempt by the Majority to use the people's House to sway
the November election in the Democrats' favor, at the expense of
Americans' constitutional right to free speech but at great favor to
special interest union bosses," Republican House Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said after last month's vote in the lower chamber of Congress.

"Congress
should not be wasting its time on an 'Incumbent Protection Act,' but
instead should be focused on job creation," Chamber President and Chief
Executive Officer Thomas Donohue recently said.
"The DISCLOSE Act is an unconstitutional attempt to silence free speech
and a desperate attempt by [Democrats] to gain political advantage in
the 2010 elections."

The bill's activist supporters counter that
it will be Republicans, rather, who gain a political advantage -- for
blocking the new rules.

"By opposing transparency, it seems that
Senate Republicans and their special interest allies are trying to boost
their own fortunes in November by ensuring that Republican-leaning
corporate coffers can be opened up to help Republican candidates without
leaving any fingerprints behind," Lisa Rosenberg, a lobbyist for the Sunlight Foundation, wrote in a blog item Monday.

Further

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